BAIC Motor, a carmaker partly owned by Daimler AG, is gearing up for an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong worth around US$2 billion, sources familiar with the situation said Friday, joining a string of billion-dollar-plus new listings expected in the city this year.

    At the earliest, the IPO will take place in the third quarter, one of the sources said.

    An IPO will give State-owned BAIC, in which German automaker Daimler has a 12 percent stake, a war chest to achieve its goal of getting a bigger share of China’s auto market — the world’s largest by sales — through acquisitions.

    BAIC Motor, China’s fifth-largest automaker, has said it is aiming to sell 2.6 million vehicles this year, up 23 percent from last year.

    The firm has moved to acquire smaller automakers to expand capacity. In August, it took over Zhenjiang Automobile, a small commercial vehicle maker in China’s eastern Jiangsu Province.

    BAIC Motor said at that time it would reposition the company as a passenger-car maker with an eventual annual capacity of 300,000 off-road vehicles and vans. (SD-Agencies)